June 12, 2007

Official says dengue fever cases on the ‘high side’

Star: PUTRAJAYA: For many people there is more likelihood of them catching dengue fever than bird flu.
Parliamentary-secretary to the Health Ministry Datuk Lee Kah Choon said the number of suspected dengue cases in the country remained on the “high side” at around 900 each week.
“Usually, the number of confirmed dengue cases will be around 20% to 30% of this figure so this puts it at an average of 200 to 300 cases weekly, which is quite serious and puts us on par with countries like Singapore.
“This has been the pattern for the country over the past month. It is probably due to the weather we have been facing, that is, rain with intermittent dry spells.
“Rainwater collects and becomes breeding grounds for the aedes.
“The eggs would hatch seven days later and become a menace,” he told reporters after opening a seminar on women’s obesity and health at Puspanita here on Tuesday.
The ”hot spots” for suspected dengue cases remained the various urban centres in Kuala Lumpur – where on Sunday, much of the city was under water after a four-hour downpour – and Selangor, added Lee.
On the report by experts that Southeast Asian countries could be facing a surge in dengue cases and that this year could be the worst ever due to climate change, Lee said
Malaysia had recently met with the Singaporean health authorities to exchange views on fighting the scourge.
“We also shared information and research results on the behaviour of the aedes mosquitoes with the Singaporeans. We are also working with the World Health Organisation to control any outbreak.
“We will be attending a few international seminars on this disease and we are carrying our own research at the Institute of Medical Research,” he said.
Earlier, when reading the speech by Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, Lee said more women in Malaysia had the propensity for obesity as compared to men.
“For every 100 men between ages 25 and 64, 14 will be fat or obese, while for the women, there will be 19,” he added.
He said most of us were still depending on our wives and mothers to serve us our meals and added, “So changing our women’s attitude about the right nutritional intake will go a long way towards changing our eating habits.”